Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him.
- KJV Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
- NKJV Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Lest you also be like him.
- NASB Do not answer a fool according to his foolishness, Or you will also be like him.
- NLT Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Do not answer a fool on his own foolish terms, or you will become like him. Avoid being dragged down to his level.
Overview
Paired deliberately with verse 5, this warns against engaging folly in a way that adopts its assumptions and tone. The two verses together teach discernment: there is a time to refuse the fool's terms. Wisdom knows when silence guards one's own integrity rather than feeding an argument.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Prov 26:5Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes.
- 1 Pet 3:9Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
- Jude 1:9But even the archangel Michael, when he disputed with the devil over the body of Moses, did not presume to bring a slanderous charge against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
- 1 Kgs 12:14and spoke to them as the young men had advised, saying, “Whereas my father made your yoke heavy, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.”
- Prov 17:14To start a quarrel is to release a flood; so abandon the dispute before it breaks out.
- Judg 12:1–6Then the men of Ephraim assembled and crossed the Jordan to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why have you crossed over to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down with you inside!”
- 2 Sam 19:41–43Soon all the men of Israel came to the king and asked, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, take you away secretly and bring the king and his household across the Jordan, together with all of David’s men?”
- 1 Kgs 12:16When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David!” So the Israelites went home,
- 2 Kgs 14:8–10Then Amaziah sent messengers to the king of Israel Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu. “Come, let us meet face to face,” he said.
- 1 Pet 2:21–23For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps:
- Isa 36:21But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 26:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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